Новостная лента: мобильные технологии

Меню

Архив метки: ICS

We’re here at the Motorola event in New York, and I just got my hands on the Droid Razr M, the “little big secret” that Motorola’s been amping up for. As you’d expect for a phone of this size, it feels excellent in the hand, with a 4.3-inch qHD display. As I’ve said over and over again, this screen size is the sweet spot.

The most impressive thing about the Razr M is the way they managed to fit a relatively large display in such a small frame. Because of this, the M ends up having some of the thinnest bezels I’ve ever seen on a smartphone. In terms of viewing video, web pages, and gaming, this is pretty sweet. However, during normal use, even for just a few seconds, I found myself accidentally touching the screen and launching apps when I didn’t mean to.

For $99, this bothers me less, but I’d probably feel differently if I was a full-time owner of the device. Perhaps more interesting than any of this is that well-spec’d, 4.3-inch phones are now selling for mid-range prices.

Moving on: The Razr M was just as snappy as you’d expect, powered by that 1.5GHz dual-core processor. On the other hand, I’m seriously bummed about Motorola’s custom overlay. ICS runs like “butter,” ironically, but you can’t enjoy its aesthetic prowess with Moto’s skin laid over top.

The 8-megapixel rear-facing camera shoots 1080p video, which is fine, but it isn’t quick like lightning by any means. The shutter takes a hot second to capture the picture, but that may also be blamed on the relatively slow autofocus.

In other news, I love the design of this phone. I already mentioned it’s comfortable in the hand, and much of that has to do with its tapered design. The phone gets increasingly thinner towards the bottom. It sports the same Kevlar fiber casing as every other Razr, but the actual Kevlar fiber bit takes up a smaller part of the phone’s backside than it does on bigger, flatter Razrs.

All in all, this is an excellent device, especially at its price point. We’ll hit you with a full review ASAP, as we’re all getting a device today. You can, too, if you’d like, as pre-orders begin today.

It’s bigger brothers have long since made their debut in the U.S., and now the smallest member of HTC’s One series is joining them. HTC’s pint-sized (relatively speaking) One V is now available for all you no-contract types on Virgin Mobile’s website, where it’ll set you back a cool $199.

In case you’ve forgotten about the ICS-powered One V (I don’t know that I can blame you), it sports a 3.7-inch display running at 800 x 480, a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor, 512 MB of RAM, and a 5-megapixel camera around the back. What’s more, the stock Ice Cream Sandwich UI is still covered up by HTC’s Sense 4.0 overlay, though I expect Virgin to have tweaked it a bit before letting the One V out into the wild.

Oh, and unlike the rest of its brethren, it retains the handsome, Leno-esque chin as seen in its forebears.

Alright, fine, the One V’s spec sheet may not be the most thrilling — even compared to some of the other devices in Virgin’s lineup — but it’s still a damn sight cheaper than the pair of iPhones that will soon hit the carrier’s virtual shelves. And hey, it’s always nice when a family manages to reunite in a different country, right?

With Lava’s XOLO X900 Intel is entering uncharted territory. It’s the chip maker’s first major push into mobile phones. Intel revealed its new mobile strategy and upcoming hardware a few months back at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress. Since then Lava’s XOLO X900 has not changed. It’s still destined for just India. It’s still a mid-tier Android 2.3 phone (ICS is coming) with a 4.03-inch, HSPA+ 3G phone. But Intel’s inside and that’s a big deal.

Inside the average looking X900 is Intel’s Atom Z2460 processor. This is the first of several upcoming phones that forgo the tradition ARM-based CPU for Intel’s Atom X2460. Intel designed this Atom SoC with Android specifically in mind. The chip runs at a competitive 1.6GHz and features Intel’s hyper-threading, 400MHz graphics core with support for OpenGL, ES2.0 and OpenVG. The silcon also had a dedicated imaging core that supports throughput of up to 240 megapixels per second and a 10-picture burst mode — a key selling point of the XOLO X900.

This is just a test for Intel, though. The company is launching this device in only India. A similar but slightly more powerful handset will hit China later this year. Intel is using these fast-moving markets as a test bed of sorts. If found to be successful, Intel will no doubt look to other OEMs for the slower moving, but more lucrative markets of Europe and the US. Until then, Indian buyers will have Intel smartphones all to themselves.

Lava’s XOLO X900 will hit Indian retailers on April 23 for approximately 22,000 rupees, or about $420. Seeing how the iPhone 4S goes for twice as much in India, the XOLO X900′s price should be enticing enough to convince at least some buyers to test Intel’s first generation device.

2011 was huge for Samsung. 2012 needs to be even bigger. Last year, Samsung showed the mobile world that they could produce world-class handsets and a proper ecosystem within the confines of Android. But now, in 2012, Samsung needs to demonstrate that they have staying power. And if several recent Samsung Galaxy S III leaks are believed, the Korean company should not have any problem standing tall against Apple and the rest. This phone looks hot.

The first leak (below) appeared over the weekend. A tall phone, rounded corners, a combination of hardware and capacitive buttons and impossibly thin. The image (rendering?) seemed to come from Weber Shandwick, a PR firm known to work with Samsung. The images show a phone running a TouchWiz-ified version of Ice Cream Sandwich. The images do not confirm any of the rumored hardware specs like a 1080p display or quad-core CPU, but it’s easy to look at the pics and see the casing being made out of ceramic like the rumors state.

Today’s image is more of the same. In fact it is the same besides a slightly different ICS skin. It looks like a press image. The design line up with the previous leak, somewhat confirming that this is, in fact, the Samsung Galaxy S III.

All will be confirmed in the coming months. Samsung is rumored to launch the phone in April or May while outing more versions of the phone throughout the remainder of the year including a Note and high-resolution camera version. The Galaxy S II was a blockbuster hit last year. Can lightning strike twice? I believe so.

Sony’s been bringing it lately, with a trifecta of monosyllabic Xperia goodness at CES and MWC. I personally believe that a key ingredient in the secret sauce may be Sony’s ability to keep the new phones classy — the Xperia S, U, and P all got high marks from us in terms of build, feel in the hand, and overall aesthetic quality. But the newest member of the Xperia clan may have trouble living up to the standard; that is, if the reality of this “floating touch” thing is anything close to what I’m imagining.

The freshly announced Sony Xperia Sola is definitely trying to be a forward-thinking phone. Sony’s packed it full of fun technology like NFC-enabled Xperia SmartTags, a (relatively small, yet actually perfectly proportioned) 3.7-inch Reality Display with a Sony Mobile Bravia Engine, 3D surround sound audio tech, and access to the new Sony Entertainment Network. Oh, and we can’t forget that whole “floating touch” thing.

The idea is that you hover your finger above the screen, “so it acts like a moving cursor” without ever having to actually touch the screen. Then you can highlight and tap links to load the page. I’m not exactly sure about the potential of this, nor the need, but we’ll just wait and see.

The newest Xperia will come in white, red and black color flavors in Q2, and while it’ll ship with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, Sony says it should see ICS by summer. We have no word yet on pricing.